


Christmas Crystal

by Burgie



Series: 12 Days of Ficsmas 2017 [11]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13152405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Alex tries to save her girlfriend for Christmas.





	Christmas Crystal

Every year, the druids and Soul Riders threw a Christmas party to celebrate the season. The Baroness provided wine, the Summers family supplied food, and the Soul Riders supplied their wonderful selves. Usually, it was a grand affair, full of singing and talking and merriment.

But for the past two years, the annual Druid Christmas Party had been a rather somber affair. Without Anne, they were missing their light, their little social butterfly. Anne had always been the light of every Christmas party, and her girlfriend, who had always been attached to her side, had been the life of the party, getting drunk and quite literally swinging from the chandelier.

This year, the mood at the party was no different than it had been for the past two years.

“It’s been over seven hundred days,” said Alex as she stood to make a toast to the room. Then, she disappeared, presumably off to cry somewhere so her dark mood wouldn’t bring down the mood of the party. The mood went down anyway.

“Maybe I should go after her,” said Elizabeth, watching Alex walk out of the room.

“I’ll go,” said Evergray, the new addition to the party this year. Avalon had been keeping a careful eye on his brother all evening, making sure that he wouldn’t do something stupid like spike the eggnog with Pandorian powder. “I’ve been in Anne’s position, well, kind of, but maybe I can soothe some of her fears.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” said Avalon. “You’re on very thin ice, Evergray.”

“I won’t,” said Evergray, and gave an airy little wave of his hand as he left the room.

He found her outside in the cold, though at least there wasn’t snow this year. Global warming had made sure of that. Evergray sat down on the step beside Alex, his knees cracking as loudly as gunshots in the night, and she turned to glare at him.

“If you’ve come to get me to apologise, you’ve wasted your energy,” said Alex, taking a swig from her bottle of mulled Christmas wine. It burned pleasantly going down, and warmed her. It eased some of the sadness, too, in that wonderful way that only sweet things could.

“Well then, it’s a good thing I haven’t come to ask you to apologise,” said Evergray. Alex looked at him carefully.

“Oh yeah? Then why have you come?” asked Alex. “And not just out here: why have you come at all? Why are you here? In Jorvik, this part of Jorvik. Fripp said we needed you, but what have you done, exactly? Spouted some nonsense about a gate, about some Guardians, about how my girlfriend isn’t as important as a horse!” Tears leaked out as she finished, and she took a large gulp of wine, trying to swallow it around the lump in her throat. It sat in her mouth, burning it, and she almost choked on it as it finally went down. She put the bottle aside with shaky hands, and it tipped, rolling down the steps and spilling wine as it went until it landed with a thud at the bottom. The Baroness used thick glass in her bottles, so they didn’t break easy. Which made them good for clubbing. Alex stared at the mess, at the wine like blood dripping down the stairs until it pooled at the bottom. Her hands were still shaking, and she covered her face with them.

“I should probably be grateful that you haven’t hit me already,” said Evergray. “The stories I’ve heard about you… Warrior.” Alex scowled at the word.

“Yeah, well you’re on thin ice,” said Alex. Evergray chuckled.

“What, am I on a lake or something? My brother said the same thing about me,” said Evergray. Alex wasn’t laughing. He sighed, then coughed, and that finally got a reaction out of the girl sitting next to him.

“Is that what’s going to happen to her?” asked Alex quietly. “When she gets back, I mean.”

“Possibly,” said Evergray. “I wasn’t encased in crystal.” Alex gasped and stiffened, but he ignored it. “Though, now that I think about it, that was possibly in an attempt to save herself. Two years… I wasn’t there that long, and I was just wandering. I’ll have to do some tests when she gets back…”

“Crystal?” Alex whispered, the tears on her face shining in the moonlight. “What… what crystal?”

“Communication!” Evergray screamed to the sky, shaking his fists. Then, he turned back to the solemn girl beside him. “Anne is encased in crystal, your friend Louisa explained the whole thing to me. She has pink veins under her skin, like me, only unlike me, both her eyes are pink.” Even in the moonlight, Alex’s skin was ashen. But, instead of fainting like he expected, Alex suddenly stood rather quickly.

“Do you know how to get to her?” asked Alex.

“I have a compass that can show you where the nearest rift is about to open,” said Evergray. “I believe the one in Mirror Marshes was relatively close to her location.”

“Give it to me,” said Alex, holding her hand out. Despite the tears on her face and the wine on her breath, her eyes burned with intensity.

“It’s very risky, though,” said Evergray. “I only sent Louisa in because-“

“I don’t care!” Alex snapped, grabbing the front of his cloak and shaking him. “Give it to me now!” At the smell of burning cloth and ozone, Evergray nodded.

“It’s in my bag in the coat room,” said Evergray. “Please be careful, I don’t want to lose another vital part of the druids.”

In the coat room, Alex grabbed the compass, a strange device with a shrad of Pandorium acting as the needle, and one other thing. And then, stowing one item into her saddlebag and carrying the other in her hand, Alex headed to the stables. She was on a mission.

Pandoria was just as pink as Alex remembered it. But now, Manta rays swam around through the air. The path in had been different, too, a corridor full of the darkest thunderclouds and flashes of lightning. Tin Can had shied away at first, until Alex had erected a shield around them. He’d calmed down, then, only jumping and rearing once when a lucky strike of lightning struck the top of the dome covering them, causing it to fizzle. Alex had recreated the shield an instant later, and they’d went on.

And now, Pandoria. Alex looked around, trembling slightly, the adrenaline still pumping through her veins. She could see no sign of Anne, but… she could sense her. And that sense of her, like sunshine on her face, in her veins, had Alex turning and riding hard in the direction of Anne, leaping gaps between islands with the greatest ease and avoiding Shadow Seekers and pitfalls.

At last, Alex had to stop at the edge of an island. There she was. A huge crystal floated on one of the islands, and inside it was…

Alex’s mouth went dry, and she licked suddenly-dry lips. Anne. She’d know that silhouette anywhere, though it was much less glamorous now. It wasn’t twisted, either, but it was… sad. Hunched over itself, like she’d just given up and curled up somewhere to die.

“Alex, we can’t make that jump,” said Tin Can, eyeing the space between the two islands, that drop into the abyss. If they were lucky, they’d land on a Manta ray. If not… he shuddered at the idea of falling forever, tossing his head and backing away from the edge.

“We have to,” said Alex, a determination in her voice the likes of which Tin Can had never felt before. He knew, though their bond, that all of Alex’s thoughts were on Anne, and nothing else. The pony trembled in his ancient horse shoes. They were supposed to give him strength and stamina, for whatever may come their way. But would it be enough?

Tin Can prayed to Aideen as Alex backed him up, then lent him some of her magic so he could pour on the speed. As fast as lightning, and then they leaped…

Tin Can was more surprised than anyone when his hooves slammed down quite far away from the edge. He stumbled slightly, but Alex kept a hand on the reins to turn him in the direction she wanted him to go. He was still shaking, his hooves numb for now (but they’d ache later, he knew this instinctively), but Alex seemed calm. Too calm, as she approached the crystal at a trot.

Up close, Alex’s face twisted in a snarl of rage. How dare they. How dare they do this to her, mock her, like it was some joke? Tinsel had been wrapped around the pink crystal, and Christmas lights blinked on and off, reflecting against the surface. A star sat atop the crystal, one made of the thorny plants that grew here. 

From down here, Alex couldn’t reach the crystal. She had to bring it down somehow. She looked around, finding no runes or traps. But the cluster of crystals beneath the larger one emanated some kind of magic. Alex could feel it, and then, when she closed her eyes and tapped into her Shadow Sight, she could see it, too. The smaller crystals on the ground glowed with power, while more power stretched between them and the larger crystal, like it was being magnetically held in place. She would have to be careful.

“Alex.” The voice was so soft that Alex didn’t hear it at first, too busy examining the spell to figure out where everything went. Trying to find weak spots. If she took out this crystal, would the larger one still stay there? And if it didn’t, which way would it fall?

The second utterance of her name made Alex pause and look up. In her shadow sight, the large crystal suddenly blazed like the sun as the person within it awoke. Tears once more streamed down her face, and she grinned up at the crystal. At the girl inside it, whose eyes were now open.

“Yeah, baby, I’m here, don’t worry, I’m gonna get you out of there,” said Alex, her voice husky and tight with emotion. She could barely breathe.

“Don’t… call me baby,” Anne whispered. Alex gulped back a sob.

“Alright, alright, princess,” Alex amended. She could’ve sworn she saw a smile on that face. She didn’t see the bright pink eyes, the streaks of pink that were not only through her skin but also through her hair. She could just see her girlfriend, the one who meant more to her than anything.

“Hurry,” Anne whispered. “My guards are coming.”

It was risky. This was so risky. The crystal could fall, could crush her, could send Anne toppling into the abyss (and Alex was damn well going to jump after her if that was the case), could shatter completely along with Anne’s body. But it was worth it, just to get her back. So Alex barely trembled as she dismounted Tin Can. As she looked up at her girlfriend, then down at the ‘magnets’ keeping her there. She only took a deep breath and prayed to Aideen for this all to work out.

Alex took the pick axe (borrowed from a friend’s backpack) out of her saddlebag, took a deep breath, and swung it back.


End file.
